International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
Positive Stories from UK Universities Posted on by Vicky Lewis
I’m an alumna of three, very different UK universities: one Russell Group, one post-92, and one pre-92 (non Russell Group). They all send me end-of-year online newsletters. I have to confess that I normally skim-read these at best.
However, this time round, amid all the news of deficits and redundancies and a general vibe of doom and gloom across the higher education sector, I felt the need to read some positive stories.
As you’d expect, each newsletter shared details of impressive achievements by members of the institution’s community. What struck me most was the impact many of these are having and / or will have on wider communities around the world.
In this blog, I’m going to pick out three examples to share in an effort to start the new year with something uplifting.
I’ll work up from the university where I studied as an undergraduate to the one where I completed my doctorate (with a little bit of autobiography so you know what my connection with them is).
My first degree was a BA in Modern Languages (German and French) at University of Oxford. It was a very long time ago (I graduated in 1990).
This story is about new guidance on conservation and human rights, launched at the United Nations biodiversity conference COP16 in Colombia. It was cowritten by conservation researchers at Oxford and human rights experts at Forest Peoples Programme. The goal of the guidance is to raise awareness among conservation professionals of the human rights of indigenous and local communities, and to share practical tools and approaches that can help with a shift to rights-based conservation.
The publication was produced as part of an indigenous-led Transformative Pathways project during which Oxford welcomed two indigenous Ogiek from Mount Elgon, Kenya, for a three-month Biodiversity Fellowship. It’s anticipated that the rights-based framework will serve as a guide for how to collaborate effectively with indigenous peoples and local communities on conservation.
My next foray into HE was at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU). I was working in the International Office there at the time. I took the first year of a part-time, distance learning MBA. For various reasons, I decided not to continue and left with a PG Certificate in Management in 1997.
The next story I’ve chosen to highlight relates to the development by an ENU-led team of an adaptable temporary ‘Mazaki’ shelter which is capable of coping with extreme temperatures and has the potential to help the millions of people displaced by natural and man-made disasters around the world each year. It addresses drawbacks found in the types of shelters currently used, which mean that temporary accommodation sites often turn into slum dwellings within weeks.
The Mazaki structure aims to prevent this, with water harvesting capability, easy sewage collection and a modular design resulting in flexible homes based around the social and living needs of those using them. It’s an outcome of a three-year Royal Academy of Engineering funded project which involved partners at the University of Cape Town, Mutah University (Jordan) and the University of Kwazulu-Natal.
In 2003, I started my DBA (Higher Education Management) at University of Bath (part-time, distance learning). I undertook this alongside the day job at Bournemouth University. My thesis explored different approaches to internationalisation at UK universities. I was fortunate that my employer was incredibly supportive, which allowed me to complete in four years and graduate in 2007.
The final story I’ve picked out is about a social enterprise called The Washing Machine Project. It tells how Navjot Sawhney, a Bath alumnus, pursued a mission to liberate people around the world from the toil of hand-washing clothing. The seeds of his idea were sown during a year-long sabbatical from his engineering job at Dyson, when he volunteered in a south Indian village with Engineers Without Borders.
He saw first-hand the impact that spending around 20 hours a week hand-washing her family’s clothes had on the life – and health – of his neighbour, Divya. He promised her an alternative and, back in the UK, left his position at Dyson and joined the inaugural year of Bath’s part-time, distance-learning master’s programme in Humanitarianism, Conflict and Development.
Field trips, including one to a refugee camp in Jordan, opened his eyes to the challenges faced by displaced people and, after further research in Lebanon, the Philippines and Iraq, Navjot built the first iteration of his low-cost washing machine (with the support of the University’s mechanical engineers). The hand-rotated machine uses one-third of the amount of water used by an electric washing machine, which is crucial in water-scarce humanitarian settings, and is 75% quicker than hand-washing, giving people more time to learn, work and relax.
Navjot named his machine Divya and partnered with Oxfam, who installed 50 machines in an Iraqi refugee camp in 2020. He subsequently secured a £2,000 grant from the Santander Award and a £12,000 grant from the University of Bath Alumni Innovation Award. The Washing Machine Project now has a presence in 15 countries and there have been partnerships with other prominent international NGOs. A new collaboration with a major appliance manufacturer will lead to 150,000 people being impacted over the next five years, unlocking around 17 million hours for women and girls in India, Mexico, Brazil, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Sudan.
These initiatives are illustrative of how all our universities, wherever in the sector they sit in terms of wealth or ranking, regularly tap into the expertise in their community to make the world a better place. Some amazing work goes on across the sector to develop new approaches which can have a significant impact in addressing serious global concerns.
One thing all my examples have in common is a willingness to listen to, involve and learn from those who are closest to the challenges being grappled with.
They all required international collaboration and partnership to come to fruition. At a time of financial strain, we mustn’t lose sight of the far-reaching impact to be derived from a culture of nurturing strong international relationships.
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF BATH ALUMNI RELATIONS INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
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